It really isn’t four more years just yet. I mean it is for one guy. It’s actually two more years for everyone else though. For the last two years Republicans have been trying to get Obama out of the White House. It didn’t work so we have at least two more years of the status quo. That is, the Senate is controlled by Democrats, the House by Republicans, and the Obama. This exact scenario brought about gridlock from 2010-2012. So what will the next two years look like?

Hopefully not like that last two. We’ve been told the message of this election was voters are tired of the gridlock. We want Washington to work together to solve problems (they helped to start). I’m not sure if that was the message of this election or not, but it’s certainly how I feel.

In the next two years Congress is going to have to address the fiscal cliff. This will actually need solving much sooner than that. The cliff will trigger tax increases and spending cuts to programs like defense. Democrats will lose some spending on programs they hold dear, but it’s the Republicans that may need to come to the negotiation table. On more long term needs, there is an economic recovery in need of sustaining. While I’ve said the President can’t do much for that, Congress surely can. All the while, we need to get a real grasp on the deficit issue from a revenue and spending perspective.

And this isn’t even touching on things like healthcare, energy and tax reform. Obamacare did a lot of things, but it didn’t do much to help bring down the cost of receiving care. Congress can do something about that too. All of these things need to be addressed in some kind of way over the next couple of years.

It’s worrisome then that we have the same actors in the same roles as before. John Boehner is still there. Mitch McConnell, Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid… the gang is the same. Some new players like Elizabeth Warren might shake things up, but they might not. If the message of this election is we want our politicians to work together, then in the words of Big Black, DO WORK!

If you aren’t getting stuff done, you can get out. In 2014, any politician that’s done nothing but caucus with their party and be a pawn to the cause should be kicked out. Likewise in 2016, and 2018. If this country really wants to send a message, the message should be we aren’t going to keep people in office that sit on their hands. You got two years.

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